Doppler radar system



Feb. 8, 1966 G. v. COLBY, JR

DOPPLER RADAR SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 16, 1963 INVENTOR. GEORGE V. COLBY, JR.

Feb. 8, 1966 v. COLBY, JR

DOPPLER RADAR SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 16, 1963 m M R mm WY NL E E0 N VC R V WEE a0 $05: N G m EOE l @228 x mv m lllllllllllll l I .l llllu'lllllllil-J $2 E mm I I J :5 oz; 80 30:; :2 i E E2: ii mm mm m m Ea id E3 :5 0E5: 252 5 R E5 kw Q, 2: V E52 E: T T fl fir 553 E Plm mllll llllmllll lllp 3,234,548 Patented- Feh. 8, 19 36 oscillator gated on, such a. leakage signal {would pr'o- 3,234,548 duce thesame effect as discussed above with respect to DQPBL R SYSTEM George Y; Colby, 'Jra, Lexington, Mass; assignor to Laboratory for Electronics; ru Bostom Mass a corporation of Delaware :Fild May 16, 1963,59131510. 280,949

Qlairns. (CL .343-17..11)

h i eat a rta s ner l y-t a a ms a d partie ilarly to airborne radar systems utilizing the Dopl' fisst" 9 9 f Ihe aior P o l ms snr s t n t e des rzfgnv k r gl o a ppl a r ys em h s b en om m naas i t r th fi ri e v t 9r. si si rs.v he. za'p ti a fit @CIQWQW ll I YFQJP-Q; th em 5 be P even s-s t sm s i is t reql rom more: to h ress vsrpi a vs h a l a sas s iallmsyb lms-fi t babqve ea h r i h tf f ea ge si a hi is the-ewe .a s na 'ng' t r? DQ391925 hi t) Gi ly? ms la -rest ess on y-with hw stm Fv t rz exl s el sa stuld n.,. d K abr sa iQfi-mmw tes-m t e ell-awe PU. tder z sivs ts m n nts 9.5 a a e d n 'mis ra es-Wh ke s n t bisstto aturati rt he s u e of m q qi ave.l akagea e known.- For eterna it i some imes desir ble- Formids overla ng fianssai lsqsiv m s: hat s .i i sometimes d s rable zti m 9 1 6 19??! a p l tq i e r eiver for bs aasinitt i tvms tq n h f v rl is qui d i9 {borne s s eais isarr a is l at n mse sruw- R15 n a iqn of su h ,svstemsa v r ow al t M ny at em t haysbe nmase t fil 'm gate t e ea bl i .tQ Wa te-B: erhars the-most obv ou 1M 49 theprqbl m h sb omoh i q s, a n c cu t vi tlss in the or er. o 50 nano con n the exp stat qn a szver p" c ul b h hemiqundrh w va li ai a extrem ly fa t li$$.,an5 s. iq i. u de i na (meani u ut a rhamflsrisfiq of opera o of *9 some? a thefqu pu qf he rece m xe s its ti qri htwill mak ks car h t if the lqcal ori at n an pit; xt emely, rap d y, the

en mo e al lla q gna -w l o a many ise O e p lse rs sti isn q ency? (m anin h f qausasr atwh shz t e local, sci ator is a edon arid-9 D 92 9 ma s 9f s it harmoni s falls, wit

nll sbsw Pas re u nc o theinte m di te e en y am e fifths s st m it ma P odu e a s u i u i o i na q rap ssia lv t. magnitud r t e output t at amplifier? ir s he P lse re ti ion e uen y oft e lqq qssi lats is. ohe s with nd a sub-mult e o f i sns pf hs mtfinnesii te r usas l fiei' fth e spurious video signal at the output of the interms ete tssiusq y mplifie mayb t min cd bar-J pp o riate fil e n irsuit. Whe howeve t e R is not so related: to the center frequency of=tl1e"interrnedi- "at aniiplifie r it: is' almost irngo ssible to eliminate the sp i s i a lll pu e ofl flk e-vb tw sn h a m er and he r ei e kl QW t irb rn D im e s ms d r f he sqar it t nsl sep s n e tenn .f h 1 iii iia a dreseiv n now u lsxs s s e sa i y lfiqrpqrate n he. m rqw circuit to a mon rwsmitmseivea te na 9 inp a r viqe 'su fi e t 3 tioli b s ir het nsmitts .a drt -w siv That is e fikn w a un s sr ow a ion o th energy fromwthe transrnitter to leak through to the-reserver rniirer. It follows then that, so long as the local overlap.

Therefore it is an object. of this invention Ito provide n t i zov a' o n Dopp er ad Syste utilizing a eorn rno r 'transrniMreCciYc fantc nn a, in 'Whicihthe effect of leakage frornjthetransrnitter torthereceiver isrninimized. a

It is another o 'jeetofihis invention to; provide an inn proved pulsed Doppler, radar system ;-which operates, independently of theflspeed at which the gating between the transmitter"andreceiver is .eliected. I

Another object of-[this invention is to providean irnprovedDoppier radar-system which accomplishesthe objects of this invention and atthe sameq tim uses standrwn om one s These and other objeets of theinventi'on are attained generallyiinga pulsedjhoppler radar system by using. .a continuously operating [first l ocal oscillator which is hetero ld vyith both the transmitt d .and receivedsigfoals to producea composite signal -at a predetermined intermediate ;fre quency-. The, composite. signal is fed through awide han i intermediate. frequency amplifier and is then gated. by the complement, of lthee transmitter contr01 ig n2i 1. The: Wide bandgintermediate frequency amplifier is varranged to limit only the portion, of the compositesignaldu to -leaigage from, the transmitten'thus "refduqi gI1 difierencc,in amplitudebetween the portions of the composite signal andqeasing the.requirerrients on the speedpf'operatigmpf thcgating rneans.- The gated signal is thenlprgcessed further toeXtract-the Doppler signal isQfedinto. a utilization device.

For arnore complete undlis ifi ld l g of theinvention, reference is inow' madetothei follo-wing detailed description of a rpreferred ernbodirnent of the invention and to h @q ImPa r/ n t wii in which:

'FIG 1 is a b loek diagra-jrn'of, a pulsed radar system aec r d t v heij ventib 'Flqi isia talo' clc iagrarn of :an alternative system according to the invention; r Y

Before referring to the, drawing inl detail, it shouldbe noted that a working system would un d'oubtedly include at least. aw secondan d' a .third antenna and' a correspond ingnu rrber of' receivers. Sinc'e',;l1ow ever, the, means for switching between wa I1,tennas and receivers .is -w'ell known .infthe art and' sinee' s chi switching means. do .notl constitute an integral .part of this invention, the drawing has been sirnpiifie'jd' to showfonly a singleiantenna systern. this felt jthat aperson ofl'brdinary 'skillwould rec,- ognize that ,such omission is rnerelyn fori-the purpose of sir nplif ying the present exposition ;,'of' the novel teatures 'of thetinvention.

Referringi now tovlFl Gi -1 it rnayjbe seen that a pre- .ferred. iernhodir'nent of theiinveritionfcomprises a tir'riin'g nnit 1 0. which prod ees controli signals' according to a predetermined .prdgr am to. synchronize theloperation of afradi o fr equer e sci ll iiti" :12 andia receiver 14. The outp u t, sigrla l qf t receiver l-li is then {fed'into a tracking/ coriiputing i 6 t ustfi fl {t p odw signal indicative.oiithejvelo city of theiy'eh'icle (not shown) whieh sup po rts the, illustrated l s'ys tem.

TheQ-tirningrunit 1t),- which rnay -he an adaption of the circuit showna ad de rilbed, in .U.;S.; Patent No. 3,005,980

issued. Qotdber, 24,:l9 6 1, eonsists of agate genera-tor sqri arev wave. signals :fronr the -gate generator 21 are, of

coursesubstaritiallyequal. One of'the square wave'signals fro m the gate generator 21 lS led to a delay unit 26,

which unit preferably is of conventional form, is shown in phantom. This showing indicates that the delay unit 23 is not an absolute necessity for proper operation of the here disclosed system, but rather is provided only when it is desired to overlap the operating periods of the radio frequency oscillator 12 and the receiver 14. The output of the delay unit 23 is fed to the radio frequency oscillator 12, thereby gating the latter unit on and off in a known manner. The output of radio frequency oscillator 12 is fed through a standard duplexer 27 to a beamforrning antenna 29, whence pulses of radio frequency energy are beamed toward a target (not shown).

The receiver 14 includes a continuously operating first local oscillator 31 whose output is heterodyned, in a mixer 33, with the energy reflected from the target back through the beam-forming antenna 29 and passing through a duplexer 27. Such energy here is indicated by an arrow directly below the duplexer 27, which arrow is marked f-l-f The symbol f stands for the frequency of the radio frequency energy from the radio frequency oscillator 12 and the symbol f stands for the frequency of the Doppler shift arising out of relative movement between the vehicle supporting the illustrated system and targets intercepted by the energy beamed therefrom. It will be obvious to one having skill in the art that the frequency of the output of the first local oscillator 31 will bear a fixed relation to the frequency of the output of the radio frequency oscillator 12. That is, if the RF oscillator is operating in the xaband, say at 9600 megacycles, the frequency of the output of the first local oscillator 31 then will be also in x band, say at 9660 megacycles, if a 60 megacycle intermediate frequency is desired. It will also be obvious to one having skill in the art that the frequency change due to the Doppler effect (f will depend upon the type of target intercepted by the beamed energy from the beam-forming antenna 29 and to the relative velocity between the antenna 29 and such target. That is, if the target is an ideal point target, then the frequency f will be a single frequency. If, on the other hand, the target is not a perfect point target as when the target actually is a portion of the terrain under an airborne vehicle, then the frequency ,f actually will be a spectrum of frequencies.

It will also be recognized by those having skill in the art that no known duplexer is a perfect switching device for radio frequency energy. In other words during transmit time (when the radio frequency oscillator 12 is gated on) a small portion of the radio frequency energy out of the radio frequency oscillator 12 leaks across the duplexer 27 and passes through the input line to the mixer 33. Such a leakage signal is indicated by the dotted arrow directly below the duplexer 27 and indicated by the symbol 1''. The problem of leakage is accentuated when the delay unit 23 is incorporated in the timing unit 10, since the radio frequency oscillator 12 is gated on for a portion of the time during which the receiver is enabled to receive energy reflected from a target. It follows then that, since the first local oscillator 31 is continuously operated, there exists on the output line of .the mixer 33 a spurious signal resulting from the mixing of the leakage signal f and the output signal of the first local oscillator 31. Such a spurious signal is, of course, highly undesirable in the ordinary case since it is of such a nature as to make it seem that there is no relative motion between the vehicle carrying the system and the target from which energy is reflected. It has been found, further, that such a spurious signal is very much greater than the desired signal.

The output of the mixer 33 is fed through a wide band intermediate frequency amplifier 35. This latter unit is of conventional construction, being designed so that it amplifies both the spurious signal and the desired signal out of the mixer 33. Its effect on the spurious anddesired signals must, however, be different in that the gain characteristics of the wideband I.F. amplifier 35 are such as to limit the spurious signal to some degree. The output of the wide band intermediate frequency amplifier 35 is fed to a gate 37, which latter element is enabled by the output signal of the inverter 25. Consequently, the gate 37 prevents practically all the spurious signal from ing through to a second mixer 39, but allows practically all the desired signal to pass to the last mentioned unit. Only that portion of the spurious signal existing when the gate 37 is enabled is allowed to pass to the second mixer 39. The signal out of the gate 37 is heterodyned in the second mixer 39 with a signal out of a continuously operating second local oscillator 41 and the converted signal is fed through a narrow band amplifier 43 to produce the final output signal of the receiver 14-. Such output is, obviously, a relatively low frequency carrier, say 500 kc, shifted by f If the delay (which causes oven lap) is not used the output signal will be a line or spec= trum) at a frequency of, say 500 kc.+f Ifthe delay (and overlap) are used the output will be a line signal at 500 kc. plus a line (or spectrum) signal at 500 kc.+f In this case the 500 kc. line is rejected ultimately in the carrier elimination filter 45. The narrow band amplifier 43 incidentally also serves as a filter to reject agood per: centage of the noise frequencies generated in the various elements of the receiver as, for example, in the mixer 33 or the wide-band intermediate frequency amplifier 35'.- The design of the narrow band amplifier may be conventional so long as care is taken to have the center frequency of its pass band equal to the difference frequency between the second local oscillator 41 and the limited portion of the composite signal out of the gate 37. The output signal of the receiver 14 is fed to the tracking/computing unit 16 entering in that unit through a carrier elimination filter 45 when the delay unit 23 is used. That fact is indicated by showing the carrier elimination filter 45 in phantom. The carrier elimination filter 45, if used, preferably is of the type disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 2,909,656. The out= put of the carrier elimination filter is led through a tracker 47, which element preferably is of the type disclosed in patent application Serial No. 464,697 filed October 26, 1954, now U.S. Patent No. 3,123,769, when it is fed through a computer disclosed in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,910,237 and 2,913,179 finally to produce a DC. signal whose sense and amplitude is indicative of the relative movement between the vehicle supporting the system and the target intercepted by energy from the beam-forming antenna 29. This latter signal is applied to an indicator 5-1 as a conventional D.C. voltmeter which preferably has its scale calibrated in terms of velocity, as miles per hour if a visual indication of velocity is desired.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it may be seen that an alternative embodiment of the invention embodying a somewhat different assembly of components from that of FIG. 1 may be used to accomplish the purpose of the invention. The differences between the two embodiments, however, do not change the basic principle of the invention that preferential processing of the desired signal minimizes, or eliminates, the unwanted effect of leakage signals.

Turning now to the details of FIG. 2 it may be seen that the system there illustrated has many elements which are numbered similarly to elements previously described in connection with FIG. 1. Such elements are either identical with the corresponding elements of FIG. 1 or, where primes are used with a number, are obvious modifications of the corresponding element of FIG. 1. Thus, the gate generator 21 produces a first train of gating signals and a second train, complementary to the first train, of gating signals. The first train of gating signals from the gate generator 21 is fed to an oscillator 61 so as to gate that element on and off in accordance with a desired program. The output of the oscillator 61 is fed, through a power divider 63, to a magic tee 65 and to a cavity 67. The oscillator 61 is of conventional construction being designed so as to produce a. continuous:

a e i i ha say 6 mesacycles, wh ie is t o The cavity 67 also is of jconyentional construction tuned to resonate at the output frequency of the oscillator ,61. The magic tee 65 is also fed by a microwave signal out of a power diyide r 69. Thistmicrowavevsignal, say at 9600 megacycles, is produced by a continuously operating master oscillator-71 which may be frequency stabilized as shown Thatis, a portion of the output of the master oscillatorjll may bepicked upby an, appropriate probe ,3, t imp f4 I fe i ee c v ty 5- The na of t reference may then be detected by conventional means (not;sliown) to producea control signal fora stabilizing amplifier 77, which element in turn produces a signal controlling, inr any conyenient manner, the output'frequency. of the master oscillator 71. It would,be recoga spectrum of frequencies, including a portion of the output signal of the master oscillator 71 and the-beat frequencies resulting from the mixing of that signal and the gated output of the oscillator 61. Such a spectrum is fed, through a band pass filter 79 wherein all but one of the sideband signals in the spectrum out of the magic tee 65 are eliminated, and the signal remaining is fed to a duplexer 27 and thence to a beam-forming antenna 29. It will be noted here, however, that, since the duplexer 27 is not a perfect device and that, since the gate generator 21 is not a perfect device (in that the rise and fall times of its trains of gating signals may be such that the transmitter on time may overlap the receiver on time), a portion of the signal out of the filter 79 leaks directly into the receiver.

The second portion of the output of the power divider 69 is fed to a mixer 33 along with the signal out of the duplexer 27. The signal out of the duplexer 27 is a composite signal, the first portion, as indicated by the dotted arrow marked of such signal being the portion of the output of filter 79 due to leakage across the duplexer 27 and the second portion, as indicated by the solid arrow marked f+f being the signal reflected back from targets and received by the beam forming antenna 29. The output of the mixer 33 then is a composite signal at an intermediate frequency, say 60 megacycles, comprising a portion resulting from the heterodyning of the signal from the master oscillator 71 with the leakage signal through the duplexer 27 and a portion resulting from the heterodying of the signal from the master oscillator 71 with the signal returned from targets. Such composite signal is fed through a wide band intermediate frequency amplifier 35 and thence to a second mixer 39. A portion of the output of the cavity 67, as shown, is also fed into the mixer 39. The portion of the composite signal out of the intermediate frequency amplifier 35 which is due to the-beating of the leakage signal and the signal out of the power divider 69 is thereforeeliminated from, or converted to a DC. voltage in, the output of mixer 39. Further the portion of the composite signal out of the intermediate frequency amplifier 35 resulting from the beating of the return signal f+f with the output of the power divider 69 in the mixer 33 is converted to a spectrum of low frequency signals. This spectrum of signals is coupled to a capacitor 83 to a narrow band amplifier 43 to pro duce, from the spectrum of audio frequency signals, a single audio signal, the frequency of which depends upon the Doppler effect on the transmitted pulses. It will be noted, however, that the sense of the Doppler effect is lost in the second mixer 39. That is, whether the vehicle supporting the illustrated system is approaching or receding from the targets may not be determined from the audio signal out of the narrow band amplifier 43'. In order to determine the sense of the Doppler effect, a portion of the signal out of the intermediate frequency amplifier 35 is fed to an and gate 85 which is enabled 7 by the complementary signal out of the gate generator .l nized',"the refore, that the output of the. magic tee 65 is pared in a conventional frequency discriminator 87 with the remainiugportionof the signal out of the cavity 67, to produce a DC. signal whose polarity is indicative of the sense of the Doppler effect.

The output 'of the narrow band amplifier. 43 is fed to a tracking/computing .unit 16', here'shown as comprising a mixer 89in which the signal out ,of the .narr'ow band amplifier 43 is used to modulate thesigna-l out of a tracker oscillator 911'? so as tofproduce a convenient signal for thetracker 47. The .outputof thetracker 47 is fed throughllthe computer, 49, ,which' element is also controlled by. the output offthefrequency discriminator 87, 'so.;a's finally tofl produce a signal whose amplitude audpolarity together, indicate the yelocity of. the vehicle Supporting[the illustratetl system.- Such-,a' signal is display-ed on an indicator 51. i

A momentis,thoughtwillmake it cleartothose having skill in the,,,ar thatthe elements makingup. the illustrated embodiments of the invention may be modified in many ways without deviating from the principles of the invention. For example, in the preferred embodiment of the invention it has been shown that a wide band intermediate frequency amplifier which limits only the signal resulting from leakage of the transmitter is desirable. It follows, then, that since there is a difference in amplitude between the portions of the signal out of the wide band intermediate frequency amplifier 35, such a difference may be used to actuate an instantaneous automatic gain control circuit (not shown) for controlling the gain of the intermediate frequency amplifier 35 and or the narrow band amplifier 43 to attenuate any portion of the composite signal resulting from leakage through the duplexer 27 with respect to the desired portion of such signal. Further, it will be recognized that the tracking/computing unit 16 could be replaced by a simple frequency detector and integrator if the beam forming antenna 29 were mounted on a stabilized platform.

With the foregoing explanation of the invention in mind, it may be seen that an improved system according to the invention cannot, because of its nature, suffer from switching problems in the front end of the receiver 14. Further, it may be seen that tedious and exacting design and construction work has been eliminated by using a wide band intermediate frequency amplifier and by gating a heterodyned signal. Still, further, it may be seen that a feature of this invention is that all the elements going to make up the preferred embodiment are standard,

ell known components, none of which are critical.

In view of the foregoing, therefore, the invention should not be deemed to be limited to the details of what has been described herein by way of example, but rather it should be deemed to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims. What is claimed is:

1. An airborne pulsed Doppler radar system for detecting the relative speed between a vehicle supporting such a system and targets without such vehicle, the system utilizing the same antenna means for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic energy, the level of such energy leaking from the transmitter to the receiver of such system during successive transmitting periods is greater than the level of such energy reflecting back from tragets to the receiver during intervals between such transmitting periods, comprising:

(a) means for generating pulses of electromagnetic energy in accordance with a predetermined program;

(b) means, including a duplexer and an antenna, for transmitting the greater portion of each generated pulse of electromagnetic energy toward targets without the vehicle;

(c) receiver means for producing a signal in accordance with the frequency of the electromagnetic energy reflected back from targets and received by the antenna, the receiver means including:

(1) heterodying means, including a continuously operating first local oscillator, for convert- 7 8 ing both the leakage portion of each generated rated and the gating means is enable during mutually pulse of electromagnetic energy and the elecexclusive successive periods of time, the length of each tromagnetic energy reflected back from targets such period being equal. to form a composite signal in an intermediate frequency b d; 5 References Cited by the Examiner (2211a wide banfdt 1amplifier agrangedlto limit fonly UNITED STATES PATENTS e or ion 0 e com 081 e signa 21115111 rom hete odying the leakage portion of each gene- 2427523 9/1947 DPIbeIg 343 17'1 rated pulse of electromagnetic energy and the 2485583 10/1949 Gmzton 343 13 output signal of the first local oscillator; and, 10 2,996,708 8/1961 Tonefson 3488 (3) gating means enabled in accordance with the 3,024,459 3/1962 Ciegg 343 8 predetermined program to reject substantially 3,101,470 3/1963 Vosbufgh all the limited portion of the composite signal and to pass the unlimited portion of the out- OTHER REFERENCES put signal of the wide band amplifier to a utiliza- 15 TM 11672, Department of the Army Technical tion device. Manual, Pulse Techniques, Oct. 1951, page 19.

2. An airborne pulsed Doppler radar system as in claim ,1 wherein the pulses of electromagnetic energy are gene- CHESTER L. JUSTICE, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN AIRBORNE PULSED DOPPLER RADAR SYSTEM FOR DETECTING THE RELATIVE SPEED BETWEEN A VEHICLE SUPPORTING SUCH A SYSTEM AND TARGETS WITHOUT SUCH VEHICLE, THE SYSTEM UTILIZING THE SAME ANTENNA MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY, THE LEVEL OF SUCH ENERGY LEAKING FROM THE TRANSMITTER TO THE RECEIVER OF SUCH SYSTEM DURING SUCCESSIVE TRANSMITTING PERIODS IN GREATER THAN THE LEVEL OF SUCH ENERGY REFLECTING BACK FROM TRAGETS TO THE RECEIVER DURING INTERVALS BETWEEN SUCH TRANSMITTING PERIODS, COMPRISING: (A) MEANS FOR GENERATING PULSES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY IN ACCORDANCE WITH A PREDETERMINED PROGRAM; (B) MEANS, INCLUDING A DUPLEXER AND AN ANTENNA, FOR TRANSMITTING THE GREATER PORTION OF EACH GENERATED PULSE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY TOWARD TARGETS WITHOUT THE VEHICLE; (C) RECEIVER MEANS FOR PRODUCING A SIGNAL IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FREQUENCY OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY REFLECTED BACK FROM TARGETS AND RECEIVED BY THE ANTENNA, THE RECEIVER MEANS INCLUDING: (1) HETERODYING MEANS, INCLUDING A CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING FIRST LOCAL OSCILLATOR, FOR CONVERTING BOTH THE LEAKAGE PORTION OF EACH GENERATED 